Case of the Moooondays

Here we go again, ending another Monday, and starting another week. Sorry by the way for the delay in posts over the past weekend, I had been extremely busy with end of the semester work, along with spending some much needed out time with a few of my favorite boys and girls. Since I am 100% no one comes here to get the breaking scoop or their instant sports fix, I was sure most wouldn't mind, or that it would just go un noticed. If you do like reading my stuff though, (which I hope you do) and expect me to live up to a higher standard of blogging, I promise to give a good faith effort and not have too many more day's off. Haha I mean shit happens right?


But anyway, as Kentucky basketball fans, we are still waiting on Terrence Jones. Jones who I talked about last week, had a press conference, was totally confused as to what to do and ended up picking Washington while under the gun. However, he did not sign his Letter of Intent (like former teammate and friend Terrence Ross did) and as of right now remains unsigned with any school. Minutes after the press conference, Jones had a fifteen minute phone conversation with John Calipari. Although it is subject to much debate, it appears Jones is the one who called Calipari. I mean it is really absurd to think John Calipari would call a former recruit right after he committed to another school. Even the most extravagant Calipari haters do not think he is that shady. Word is he and his family had talked and had felt good about Kentucky, but under pressure of teammates and friends, pulled the trigger for Washington at the last second. However it went, it was clear he really had no idea where he wanted to go, and it appears he still has no idea. It has now been three days since, and still no definitive answer. The UK staff still remains optimistic, while Lorenzo Romar and the Washington staff have to be holding their breathe as well. No matter the outcome, you can expect a post from me on here concerning what is the strangest recruitment of all time.




Super Saver won the most exciting two minutes in sports as you all should know. And If you have no idea what those two minutes are, then one, hopefully you do not live in Kentucky, then two, you really need to get a clue. We are talking the Kentucky Derby! The most prestigious horse race period, anywhere. Also in case you missed it, Ice Box made a very late, hard charge through the field to take the second spot after being tied up in bad position for most of the race. Other notable stories was the guy who won the contest to get to place a $100,000 dream bet, and actually won (equalling over $900,000). Jockey Calvin Borel winning again making it 3 out of the last four Kentucky Derby's. Oh, and of course, a lot of rain, and a lot of mud. To be frank, it was almost a deluge, which made it even more festive, for what is always a very festive infield party (free for all). For those of you who think the Kentucky Derby is nothing but a bunch of snotty horse enthusiasts with their Armani Suits, Fancy Hats, and Mint Julips, then obviously you know nothing about the Derby infield. To put it simple, think Talladega on crack, or more less a Woodstock with horses. That is the Derby infield. To get an even better idea, to quote a friend, and frequent Derby goer (infielder), "I have been to the last three Kentucky Derby's. I've only seen the track once, and I've never seen a horse." So in Kentucky, when we celebrate (party), we celebrate. Gotta love it.




Tiger Woods came out and SUCKED it up all over the Carolina's as he didn't even make it into the weekend at the Quail Hollow Championship. After a brilliant return at The Masters, this just showed that even the best in the world cannot take that much time from competitive golf and still come back to form. This is only the third missed cut for Tiger in almost the past eight years. Who didn't suck though was Irish young gunner Rory McIlroy, who shot an amazing 10 under par (62) to take a four stroke win over Phil Mickelson. Now the attention is on the 20 year old McIlroy who with his super low 62 Sunday is taking the golf world by storm. NOTE: expect to hear the name Rory McIlroy a lot in golf circles during the next decade.

Oh and if Rory McIlroy's 62 (par 72) wasn't impressive enough, some Japaneese kid, Ryo Ishikawa shot a 12 under 58 to pick up a win on the Japan Tour. The 58 is the lowest score ever on a major tour. Oh, and the kids just 18.

In otherwords, Tiger better get his shit on a roll.



And for playoff basketball, the Utah Jazz blew their opening series game against the Lakers. Thus meaning more than likely the Lakers will win the series and make it to the Western Conference Finals.

The other Western Conference Semi is the Phoenix Suns against the San Antonio Spurs. Game one of the series is tonight. The Spurs, beating out the Dallas Mavericks who I have talked about a couple of times in the past few weeks, making the frequent remark, Mark Cuban is somewhere swallowing a handful on anxiety pills. Well now, he is somewhere swallowing a handful of anti depressants, which I guess is basically the same thing. His Mavericks squad closed the season after the All-Star break better than anyone in basketball, thanks in part to the trade for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood. Now he has a little time to contemplate which direction to take his 30+ year old team. If he gives it too much time, then he will just take them directly to retirement here very shortly. Now don't get me wrong, I love Dirk, I love Shawn Marion, I love Jason Terry (three main pieces of the Mavericks team) but if they were going to do something you would think it would have had to have been this year. Now with Caron Butler turning 31 soon, time is running out for a now aging team, with not much room to work with.


In the East, the Bucks cinderella run finally ran out as the Atlanta Hawks sent them back to Milwaukee with a game seven victory. Give the Bucks credit though, they made it further this season then anyone could have ever imagined, and doing so without two of their best players, sharp shooter Michael Redd, and big man Andrew Bogut (who missed the playoffs). It looks as if behind this years rookie sensation Brandon Jennings, that they are on the up and up, for the rest of this year though, at least we won't have to continue to hear, "Fear The Deer". Thank God.

The Hawks start their series against the Orlando Magic tomorrow night.



The other Eastern Conference semi is King James and the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Big 3 + 1 and the Boston Celtics. The plus one of course being former Cat, Rajon Rondo. The Cavs lead the series so far 1-0, but are trailing as we speak in game two 83-61, with the fourth quarter just getting underway.




So this week, most of you I know are like me and have Finals to tend to. Good luck on that. Hopefully you are looking forward to Summer as much as I am. Terrence Jones could possibly make his decision this week, but he then may decide he needs to freak out and wait a little while longer because he still has no clue what he wants to do. Plenty of good playoff basketball this week as the NBA Playoffs are winding down. On the random tv show watch, catch Deadliest Warrior on Spike Tv tomorrow night as Al Capone will be taking on Jesse James (the outlaw, not the monster garage and Sandra Bulluck guy) in a fight to the death. (chuckling a little bit).

Hometown Proud: The CJ Leslie Story

Ever since John Wall stepped to the mic and announced his intentions to attend the University of Kentucky from the Word of God Academy press table, most believed that teammate and schoolmate CJ Leslie would be doing the same the following year. Leslie, a 6'8'' freakish athletically gifted forward, had already gave his verbal to attend North Carolina State University, a verbal he later retracted when re opening his recruitment. NC State, located nicely in Raleigh North Carolina, the home of Word of God Academy (also the home of Wall and Leslie), provided a safe haven for CJ to play ACC basketball, all the while not having to leave the confines of what he has felt comfortable with, his home. However, after another season of AAU ball last summer, it became clear Leslie was about to be stepping into the national spotlight as he cemented himself firmly as one of the nations best. Calls started to come in from premiere colleges throughout basketball, you know the John Calipari's, the Jim Calhoun's, and the Roy Williams' of the world. At this time last year, it was starting to be the beginning of the CJ Leslie hype, not to mention the start of the enormous hype that would become Kentucky Basketball in the John Calipari era.


As friend and former teammate John Wall flourished at Kentucky, CJ did the same at Word of God. Entertaining the country via youtube videos showcasing his insanely athletic game, it was looking more and more like he was going to be following the same path as Wall did. I mean once a recruit decommits from a school, rarely does he ever recommit to the same school. In the world of recruiting, it is under a one percent odd of actually happening. With schools like Kentucky, UCONN, Florida, among others knocking on the door, who would want to even think about suiting up for NC State? While Kentucky has the likes of Lebron, Magic, Drake, Mike Tomlin, among other whos who in Rupp Arena showing up for games, the Wolfpack of NC State was just trying to sale out over half of their seats. While Kentucky was being shown on National TV basically every game, NC State was just trying to get on National TV. While Kentucky was competing for a National Championship, NC State was just trying to keep its mid level ACC status, and not drop to bottom dweller status, ala Boston College. While Kentucky players and coaches were living a somewhat celebrity status (you know, like getting calls from the President, and having hundreds of thousands idolizing your signature dance moves) the NC State players were walking around unnoticed on campus, unless they were wearing their Wolfpack gear. While Cal ended up putting four frosh straight into the NBA, Sydney Lowe and NC State is still working on sending more than one every five or more years (Thank You JJ Hickson).

So why wouldn't CJ Leslie follow John Wall and come to Kentucky? Obviously Wall had kept him informed during the entirety of the season, keeping him up to date on whatever madness may be going on at the time. You have basically everyone in the recruiting world saying he is Kentucky's to lose, and even had one such recruiting source go the distance and say don't expect anything but a decision to come to UK, its going to happen (hmmm hmmm ESPN Rise), only for him to make his decision in the two days to follow.

The answer may not be as hard or as puzzling as what you think. Just know that in order to understand the present, you must be able to learn from the past.

Not only were John Wall and CJ Leslie high school teammates, they also played along side one another for Brain Clifton's D-One Sports AAU team. Wall, who had lost his father in his pre-teens, looked to Clifton as some what of a father figure. During the Wall recruitment, many relationships became divided. Clifton, was more so pushing John towards Coach K and Duke. Why you ask? Well it wasn't because Duke was closer to home, and it wasn't because Clifton felt Coach K could better develop Wall and get him league ready faster than Calipari. It wasn't even that Clifton and Wall's family felt closer to K and Duke. However, it basically fell back tongue in cheek to the shady part of business that is AAU basketball and high school basketball recruiting. In Clifton's (and others who were surrounding Wall) head, he knew that if John went to Duke, then he would be better suited to stay with Wall throughout the process, ultimately into the NBA and those NBA paychecks (endorsements included). At Kentucky, Clifton foresaw losing his grip on Wall to the alliances that Calipari has aligned himself strongly with via his NBA connections. In the end it appears that hunch is correct, as Wall now seems set to join forces with Lebron James and team up for a monster apparel deal. Behind that more than likely lies another Calipari/James connection in William Wesley. AKA Worldwide Wes, AKA the most powerful man in basketball.

Which brings us back to Leslie. Again, same high school team, same AAU team as Wall. Pretty much same community. Wall and Leslie's people, well they know each other. It is pretty evident Leslie's people saw how the John Wall situation panned out, and realized they to could get cut out of a good paycheck if not being able to ride CJ's coat tails to the promise land. Many sources indicated CJ wanted to come to Kentucky. So much so it reminded all of us eerily of the Ralph Sampson situation in which Sampson longed for Kentucky, but was pressured into staying closer to home, ultimately deciding for Virginia instead. Many sources also included though that Leslie was getting immense pressure from family and friends to stay home and play ball. Hmmmmmm. Wonder why?

But not to sound like a complete and total jerk, and total conspiracy theorist that CJ Leslie not ending up at Kentucky was based on things other than just an 18 year old kid making a decision, CJ did form an extremely tight bond with Sydney Lowe and his NC State staff. Many times throughout the season, Leslie made the cross town trip to campus to hangout with Lowe, and his team. Also adding to the bond was long time friend Ryan Harrow pledging his commitment to play with the Wolfpack this upcoming season. So although Leslie had to have been enamoured with the fame of playing at Kentucky, he also felt super comfortable suiting up for the Wolfpack.

Like anything though, basketball recruiting will always be filled with enough conspiracy theories to make 911 conspiracy theorists blush. In the end CJ Leslie broke the mold, and gave his commitment back to the school he had previously removed it from. While that left countless numbers of those following the recruitment shocked, maybe it shouldn't have. Once you look at it, there are plenty of reasons as to why this made sense, even if it wasn't directly related to Leslie, but perhaps maybe those around him instead.